Introduction: English with an Accent

Project Description

Introduction

This book is about language, but let’s begin with a bit of science fiction.

Imagine the following: On January 1 of the next new year, each person residing in the United States wakes up to find themselves physically transformed: regardless of race or ethnicity, all adult males 18 and older will be exactly 6′ tall and weigh 175 pounds; adult females, 5’9″, at 140 pounds. All persons will show exactly the same physical measurements (length of tibia, diameter of wrist) and body fat ratios, with a differential arising from gender-specific roles in the propagation of the species. All persons newborn through age 17 will approach the adult model on a scale graduated exactly to age. Metabolism has adjusted so that the ratios of height to weight are maintained regardless of diet or development of musculature.

Let’s take this strange idea a step further and imagine what this revolution would mean to us in our day-to-day lives. Some of the repercussions might be seen as positive: Tremendous behavior shifts in matters of mate selection and sexuality. Every woman will wear what is now a size ten, but as sizes are no longer relevant or meaningful, the social connotations of clothing sizes (petite or queen, extra tall, extra long, extra broad, extra narrow) will quickly be lost. The end of the diet industry. Sudden resolution of health problems related to weight. Heart disease, hypertension, anorexia – a whole range of diffi cult health problems greatly simplifi ed or resolved overnight. […]

Click on the cover image to download a pdf of the whole introduction.

“This second edition of English with an Accent exceeds the high standard of research excellence that Lippi-Green first displayed in 1997. This new book introduces keen insights about language, justice, discrimination, and the human condition in America.”

John Baugh,
Margaret Bush Wilson Professor in Arts and Sciences
Washington University in St. Louis, USA

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A synonym is a word you use when you can’t spell the other one.— Baltasar Gracián

Rosina Lippi is a former academic and tenured university professor. Since 2000 she has been writing and researching, haunting the intersection where history and storytelling meet. She does this by wallowing in 19th century newspapers, magazines and and street maps and consuming a lot of academic historical research. And she never gets bored with any of it. Most writers of historical fiction are obsessive-compulsive. That's her story and she's sticking to it.

As Sara Donati she is the author of the Wilderness series, six historical novels that follow the fortunes of a group of families living in the vast forests in upstate New York from about 1792-1825, with particular attention to the War of 1812. Her newest novel about the Bonner family (forthcoming 2015 with Berkley Books) is The Gilded Hour which jumps ahead two generations to follow Nathaniel and Elizabeth Bonner's grand- and great granddaughters into the twentieth century.

Rosina writes contemporary novels (and academic work, for example here). The majority of her book reviews can be found at Goodreads; you can also find her on Facebook and (less often) Twitter (@RosinaLippi). She lives on Puget Sound with her husband, daughter, two elderly dogs and a rambunctious cat. Sara lives with Rosina and her family, but refuses to answer the phone, do windows or make herself useful in any way at all.